Sanford, NC - an art and music hot spot to watch

With its small-town feel and big-talent draw, Sanford is a national gem of music, arts and culture. The local community is dedicated to the arts and home to a multitude of festivals, music series, theater programs and public art installations.

Sanford's love of the arts is longstanding and deep-rooted. One of its historic buildings, Temple Theatre, originally built as a vaudeville house, still hosts theatrical performances that bring more than 40,000 people into downtown Sanford each year.

Currently, CDC guidelines only allow for audiences of 25 people, so Temple is hosting intimate in-person audiences and continuing its online streaming events for its seven-show season. The theater's interior recently got an upgrade, so audiences returning after the relaxing of social distancing will enjoy an even more beautiful historical ambiance to their theater-going experience.

Producing Artistic Director Peggy Taphorn shared one of her main focuses during her tenure at Temple has been to build up the youth programs — something she has done with success.

"About 10,000 of the visitors to Temple each year are youth or young people who participate in our Academy classes and our conservatories," said Taphorn. "We also offer a teen touring troupe called the Temple Teen Ensemble, which, after 2018's season of 'The Voice,' might be considered a training ground for minor celebrities."

Sanford resident Britton Buchanan, the runner up of the 2018 season of the singing competition, "was a Temple kid."

Beyond its role as the home of theatrical performances and youth academies, Temple is also a gallery for art shows and a music venue. Local orchestra, the Heart of Carolina Jazz, regularly performs there, as do North Carolina's Official Ambassadors of Music, The Embers.

"This looks like it's going to be a fantastic location," said Popka. "It's a community that's dedicated to music and the arts."

So far, the Carolina Indie Fest lineup happening in September 2021 will include musical talent like indie rock artist Paleface, garage punk band Addie Tonic and the alt-country Cliff Wheeler Band.

"I expect a minimum of 36 acts over the course of two days, including national headliners," said Popka. "And we're going to bring bands that we've worked with at South by Southwest to Sanford as well."

The Carolina Indie Fest will also be an opportunity to check out local vendors and food trucks at its street fair. Some of the local artists you may see at street fair booths are already featured at the Miller Art Gallery at the Mann Center, another incredible testament to Sanford's artistic culture.

Work by more than 50 local artists is on display and available for purchase at the beautiful gallery. The Mann Center also hosts concerts, festivals and dance performances in its 300-seat auditorium.

It's no wonder Sanford is such a hotspot for arts and culture thanks to the thriving Lee County Arts Council that drew Taphorn to the area nearly fifteen years ago from New York. The non-profit Arts Council hosts public events and educational classes to achieve its mission of "fostering art appreciation and artistic expression in Lee County."

That appreciation continues to grow despite what has been a challenging year, especially for the arts community. But an arts community as strong as Sanford's is not easily deterred.

"One of the cool things about Sanford is there's so many artists here," said Taphorn.

Added Popka, "Sanford is perfectly situated off the interstate and we're excited to bring a festival here. We're just going to have unbelievable and quality talent here and I think it's going to open a lot of eyes and really suit the community."